Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Volume 3, Number 12: A Couple More Quick Updates

(Note: I originally posted this entry on April 3, 2008, on my Yahoo! GeoCities blog.)

The "a la carte cable" thing: The good news is, the judge didn't throw out the consumer lawsuit that rightly states that programming packages are akin to a supermarket forcing me to buy onions and mushrooms. The bad news is, that judge, U.S. District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder, is certainly leaning towards throwing it out. She gave plaintiffs' attorneys 11 days from March 10th to amend their lawsuit. More bad news--the corporate bigwigs have already been making up all kinds of bullcrap about how "a la carte" cable will result in higher consumer rates. In particular, according to an article I found at http://www.multichannel.com/, a Wall Street analyst claims that ESPN would cost $25 a month if offered "a la carte." Gee, I wonder how much Disney paid said analyst "under the table" to say that. I mean, it doesn't cost Disney any more money to upload, say, ESPN programming to a simple satellite than it costs the Home Shopping Network to transmit its channel of crap, does it?!?

The GM job: I just finished my first year with them, and expect to continue to work with them for the foreseeable future. That still doesn't change my spending habits, though. I intend to stick to pretty much the same standard of living I've established over the past year--partly because of the condition of Michigan's economy, and partly because over the last 13 years, I've learned to expect the unexpected.

About Me

If you're looking for the Mark Rabinowitz who went to school in Farmington Hills, Michigan back in the late '70s and '80s, went to the University of Michigan in the early '90s, well, you've found him. He loves thriftiness, self-reliance, moderation and honesty; and hates all who oppose these core values.